I think you’ve all hit it on the head. Humor is cathartic and very powerful. Things that don’t stand up to humor are weak and brittle. South Park, SNL and other shows have done more sometimes than serious treatments to show people the absurdity of certain ideas or dogmas.

Powerful people that cannot poke fun at themselves once in a while are considered weak and two-dimensional. Look at William Shatner. The only reason he’s survived this long is that he can take himself with a large grain of salt and laugh at himself.

DM cannot do interviews because he is an abject failure when it comes to going off script and delivering anything but canned lines. He has to have complete control of the environment and the audience. He is nothing more than a smarmy little salesman, a performer, a bully that does not command through respect but fear, I think he knows it. Those type are always cowardly. When you cannot hold your own with Ted Koppel asking a couple of hardball questions, you don’t have much of a case for anything. Especially when you have to rely on self-aggrandizing b.s. and claims with no proof to make a point.

He would get eaten up by anyone on the street with a microphone these days, much less someone with a journalism degree. People are becoming much less impressed with wild and unsubstantiated claims. We’ve had to watch too many late night infomercials and seen too many defective product recalls to be that easily snowed. We are cynical enough to know a scam when we see one.

And here’s a hint Davey. Young people who talk like starry-eyed automatons and use hard-sell tactics are good for selling cellphones but not religions. We’ve also been telemarketed to death and can recognize those “coffee is for closers” pitches from a great distance.

FYI any “never ins” like myself who want to understand what joining Scientology is like (w/o having to actually join) should check out the podcast “Oh No w/ Ross and Carrie.” They do a 9 episode deep dive into Scientology. To understand it better, they do a personal investigation where they both took classes including dianetics, purification rundown, attend news years celebration, tour LRH museum, Sunday service and LRH Birthday celebration.

They regularly investigate fringe groups and recount their experience on their podcast. I haven’t checked out their other subjects yet but the Scientology series was fantastic. It gives someone like me (who has no real life experience with Scientology) great insight into

1. how expensive it is
2. How much they pressure you/bother you
3. How disrespectful they are to your personal time and private life
4. How UNSCIENTIFIC they are
5. How obvious it is they are greatly hurting in recruitment(they couldn’t believe Ross and Carrie were actually interested in Scientology)
6. How much they love cheese and crackers!

Bonus is Ross and Carrie playing a game of “Who Said It: LRH or Charles Manson?” Probably a bad sign if you have a hard time distinguishing between your religious leader and Charles Manson.

I don’t know Ross or Carrie at all nor am I affiliated with them or their podcast. It’s free on iTunes. Former Scientologists probably won’t get much from it but for those of us who find this all fascinating and infuriating, I highly recommend it.

Oh cool. I’ll have to check that out. Since their Scientology series is a little older (late 2015,early 2016 I think) I googled it to see what people said about it then.

Mike Rinder had some great thoughts on the series, really highlighting how seriously desperate Scientology is for new recruits by pointing out how barren the LA orgs were. On at least one occasion, Ross was the only one in his class…and he also got the hilarious question “are you 100% American?” They couldn’t believe that 2 Americans would walk in off the street and sign up for courses.

That comic strip makes Scientology sound an awful lot like the Jehovah’s Witnesses (another cult, in my opinion). What sense does it make to approach random people on the street, randomly jabbering on something they didn’t ask you about? As a Christian I believe in the power of witnessing…but this is something else entirely.

Both Scientology and Jehovah’s Witnesses are quite similar in the way they degrade and abuse their fervent believers. Both have systems in place of unforgiving and degrading punishment by forcing them to perform demeaning and arduous work.

The legalism I was raised in was very much the same way. I’d walk into the house after being chased and/or beaten by school bullies…only to hear my aunt Pat listening to Bible audio tapes where the narrator sounded one step from a coma. The rare times I tried asking questions, both she and my uncle Wayne became very upset. Toward the end of her life here, my Mom said one of her biggest regrets was not getting my sister and I away from them both.

@Joshua Belyeu – Absolutely something else entirely. I used to do body routing, 40 years ago. We weren’t “advanced enough” to have “patters” back then in the stone age, when the “blind were leading the blind” (as DM accused all the old timers of). We did the unthinkable. We actually TALKED to people, because we were interested in them instead of desperate to get the stat so our senior wouldn’t kill us.

I must say that the hardest job in SCN these days would be a Body Router. I would rather be on the RPF’s RPF than do that job. Ugh! That would be like trying to recruit for the KKK or the Nazi party.

I was lucky in my SCN/SO life. I never got ONE person interested in SCN, I never regged anyone, only audited 1 person – probably for about 4 hours, once. There were perks to being a slave on the Apollo and later at INT. Also when I was in I never told any “wogs” that I was a Scientologist and once I left, I hid my past experience of being in that cult.

u betcha. Let’s grab a case and give Scientology a real ribbing hey! We can take turns ringing the orgs up and take bets on just how long we can keep someone on the phone for before they hang up. Just think of the type of questions we could ask ’em. eg. My dog went psychotic when a yellow cat crossed his path on the 29th Feb. Can I get him audited on any other day than the 29th Feb or do I need to wait 4 years? I’m willing to pay for the return of his sanity.

The wise seek knowledge and truth the unwise aka $cn clearing ” the planet. Need to have rescue party break the persons within the “hole” out the ones who want to leave go with and the ones who stay is on them. I bet we could picket the facility and get them released it would go viral for sure no one deserves this punishment period. Bad press is their Achilles heel let us exploit by a legal means period, with enough supporters this can happen. Leah and Mike keep up the pressure we can save so many.

I enjoy the funnies. Mike, keep up the superb work of exposing Scientology with Leah. The DA and the state AG’s and the DOJ need to continue to hear the truth about the coercion, psychological pressure and the physical assaults and the physical punishments endured by Scientology members under the leadership of the COB.

In the case of Florida, it’s too late as the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, has long since been co-opted by Miscavige. He contributed to her campaign(s) and should be considered a “friend” of the czerch.

One of the few really smart things LRH did was give everything those snazzy acronyms from pseudo-scientific, IO psychology-type buzzwords. It really dresses up ordinary actions and behavior and makes them feel super special.

Big corporations do the same thing to make people feel cutting edge and productive. Don’t underestimate the power of having special jargon. Using plain and simple words just doesn’t feel as if what you are doing is all that important. Not to mention, way cooler than simply selling stuff people may not really need, that might not really work, at an arbitrary rate, to assure maximum profit for the guys on top. Most religious organizations don’t realize that making it sound cool and professional is half the battle. (But Inc. and Forbes and other organizations frequently publish the most overused and pretentious business jargon that needs to be dropped from popular use because they are too clichéd. Too bad CoS doesn’t have that luxury. But I guess being in a closed system makes it easier. )

Then if you can structure everything like a military hierarchy with cool uniforms for some people, they feel like they are part of an elite corps. Very clever borrowing that from the military and business (who also heavily borrowed from the armed services after WWII.) It looks so official and legitimate that way. Instead of just a bunch of bureaucratic b.s.

Thank you! But Cece may not appreciate being confused with me and my opinions, lol! We tend to get confused on here. If it’s easier to separate, you can just call me Beans. Some people do in other forums, lol.

Couldn’t agree more Cecy B. The ridiculous jargon is important in cults as it separates ‘Us’ from ‘Them’. A divine knowing of secrets enables cult members to feel superior to the rest of sleeping humanity as cult participants are indoctrinated to believe they are on a fast track to nirvana. In addition, those who actively control the group at the top are intensely protected by the workers bees below. To me, this all enhances the psychological aspect of the cult as a new and more caring family who you can trust. I finally found people who understand and can save me !! I am a never – in re: COS but was in another cult in the 1980’s that used cryptic words and deeply encouraged separation from disgruntled family members. After leaving they wished me a life time of bad karma – now and forever. Took a few years and some therapy to regain my sense of self. All devotees will have some emotional scars after breaking away from a cult. Mike’s blog is a form of therapy for participating ex members of COS and for me, as I can really relate. The Church of Scamology screams ‘cult’ so loudly I can only hear what they are NOT saying. Thanks all.

Cgarrison – sorry for your painful journey. But I’m glad you have a better sense of your whole self. I think that not only do these decoder rings and buzz words help make things feel special and unique in these groups – like they speak a special language nobody else can translate or relate to – they are also very useful in objectifying both feelings and people – neutralizing them by putting them into neat little pre-judged categories that can be jettisoned or ignored. That helps to make them separate.

I used to ride the train with a bunch of first-year law students. They almost always spoke in legal phrases and the hand-me-down Latin of the courtroom. As if they were the center of the world and the rest of us were just idiot mopes revolving around them that didn’t understand what was important, what was really going on. After reading One L about Harvard Law, and Take the Bar and Beat Me about Yale law school, I realized that, like the Marine Corps or something – they were training people to re-wire their reality, to think differently than the rest of us. It’s an indoctrination.

The language of many groups is separation, you’re right. To elevate a person to thinking they are different and special, but also to stereotype or distance people that are not part of the “club”.

I don’t know if this is the specific intent, but these cartoons do attempt to stereotype Scientologists. I was in Scientology for 25 years and on staff for about four and I never met these people. They are stupid, selfish, even sociopath. The personality they have is a projection of the author. Some Scientologists are stupid, some are selfish. Some are kind, intelligent, funny. I know Scientologists who are professional musicians, successful business owners, doctors, chiropractors, etc. The stereotype portrayed in these cartoons is a creation of the author and does not match my reality. People should be aware of some negative aspects of scientology like disconnection, extreme demand for money, etc. However, if you step back and look at comparable examples, historical examples of stereotypes used against groups I think you will see they are almost always a bad thing.

Chris – I was in longer than you and yes I have met many who spoke like this, I guess you were lucky not to run into these types or you lived in some kind of bubble. Anyway lighten up and strive towards gaining a sense of humor.

May I suggest starting with the Three Stooges, Marx Brothers, Monty Python, any and all Mel Brooks movies, just to name a few.

This edition of cartoon isn’t as bad as some of the previous ones. I have a sense of humor but usually I don’t like satire. I think it’s a lower form of comedy. If you look it up the synonyms are “mockery, ridicule, derision, scorn”. It seems to appeal to people who have a strong bias against something, and often it is intended to create a bias or influence public opinion. That’s what SNL is doing.

Whoever is calling the shots at SNL wants to take down Trump, so they are using the show to do that. It becomes a form of propaganda. The Trump satire appeals to viewers who dislike Trump. They depict Spicer as a deranged lunatic and it creates or reinforces a negative public opinion. Younger people, or people who might not know otherwise get the idea there must be something wrong with Spicer and Trump from this alone without evaluation. So, this “satire” is more like propaganda isnt it?

If there are two sides and the propaganda is ridiculing the other side it’s “funny”. If you are on the other side it’s offensive. If you aren’t taking sides it’s just not that funny. To me. It’s just not funny. I don’t get joy in ridiculing and mocking others. Some of the Monty Python stuff was funny. I am more of a fan of strange, unexpected humor, or insightful humor. Louis CK, Bill Hicks, Dave Chappelle. Dave Chappelle is probably my favorite comedian.

Chris, since its inception, SNL has satirized Presidents of the US and many well known political figures from both parties.

What President was satirized more than Bill Clinton, coming from all angles?

They also did many hit jobs on Jimmy Carter, and Hillary Clinton, OMG, where does one begin when in comes to satire?

.This sort of thing is taken in stride by people in high profile political life. Political satire is an American tradition dating back to colonial times.

Have you ever seen the Revolutionary War era cartoons of King George? He was portrayed in them as an ugly, richly dressed, raving,drooling cretin

Yes, he was hated, and yes, he was lambasted, mercilessly. And a war was fought. And we won our independence from England. Are you going to attribute our victory to cartoons, or, would it be more accurate to say that British policies oppressive and unfair to us were the reasons we vanquished British rule?

And for a long time we’ve been great friends with the Brits. They make fun of us constantly and we make fun of them. So what? Its funny. I never met a Brit yet who didn’t have a marvelous sense of the ridiculous, even if and sometimes especially if its their own ridiculousness.

Freedom of speech, our First Amendment is a beautiful thing because it works for everyone provided each person uses it.

Speaking of having a sense of humor about stereotyping, top comedians stereotype themselves. Just off the top of my head: Jack Benny always promoted as being very cheap (he wasn’t, but his TV show character was) when in fact his was the most generous of men, not stingy at all. And then there was Don Rickles with his over the top boorishness and insults which convulsed many of us when in real life he was a kind, polite gentleman.

We’re having fun here with RB’s ramping up of the already over the top stuff that the cult still ins do and say. We’re not painting all Still Ins present and past with the same broad brush. We know there are and were many good people in Scientology. Laughter is good medicine, and many people on this blog are in pain, Chris. Remember, Mel Brooks made us laugh at the Hitler and the Nazis. Good medicine, is all.

“Laughter is good medicine, and many people on this blog are in pain, Chris. Remember, Mel Brooks made us laugh at the Hitler and the Nazis. Good medicine, is all.” Yes and I come here every day to decompress and Friday is always the cherry on the cake.

Did you know Mel Brooks was a combat engineer in WW2? Defusing landmines and such. He’s seen the worst of humanity and yet gives us comedy relief from life’s suffering by cleverly satirizing the agony. He’s quite the fellow, a genius in my book. .

Here you go Chris, I think this should help a lot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parody
RB puts the capital “P” in Parody for those of us here who have a fine ear for irony and satire.

It’s absolutely true, by most folks accounts, that there are more intelligent, kind and altruistic folks on staff than there are sociopath assholes, like DM, in the cherch. The fatal flaw there is that all of the decent folks on staff are completely and totally dominated and controlled by the evil folks.

With a Super SP at the top of this rigidly militaristic command and control power structure, with no one to tell him “no,” it’s hardly any wonder that his underlings are either chronically PTS to this sociopathic douche weasel or competing to put on his evil valence and suck up to power…in $cn, you’re truly fucked if you do and utterly screwed if you don’t!

Chris Mann – the characters are not intended to show average Scientologists, these two are very young Sea Org members (see the vests with gold trim). The Sea Org is a whole different thing, and Regraded Being is showing some of the difficulties faced by the kids. That’s how I see it anyway.

I see the RB cartoons as a humorous yet truthful indictment of Scientology culture. When compared to the non-Scientology world, the absurdity of Scientology thought/speech/policy-driven actions shines brightly. That absurdity is what I find funny and, at times, ironic.

I really wonder what the body routers think and say these days. With AGP, Mango, and Tory bursting the bubble, body routers have all heard about Shelly, Heber, Going Clear, Leah/Mike, Ruthless, disconnection, etc. How effective can the lame smear vids and materials really be? One cannot say that the flock of sheeple do not get exposed to info anymore. There is plenty of data flowing. Darth Xander lets people at Flag hear it too. The iron curtain is more like tin foil these days.

Mike: The discussion I would really love to see happening is a discussion regarding Why is Miscavige in hiding? If he’s the big honcho, why does he not actively and publicly defend his Church? Why is he playing the role of The Coward? Or The Terrified? Even the Pope of the Catholic church makes public appearances. And surely he could arrange an interview on a major station with some well known public interviewer?

It’s as if there is no one in command of the vessel. If no one in the Sea Org is in command, who is????

Miscavige won’t be interviewed because direct, hard questions would be asked about the abuses. He can’t defend the indefensible. He’d have to reply on misdirection, ad hom attacks and all other manner of nonsense. People would see right through him…and he knows it.

You’ve got that right. The only interview he ever made was the one with Ted Koppel back in 1991. I’ve watched that a couple of times. He didn’t come out of that looking too good so he’s been hiding from the media ever since. I read that he prepped for weeks beforehand and evidently thought he was going to able to “handle” Ted Koppel. If anything, Koppel handled him.

That said, I found that interview disappointing. Miscavige made the preposterous claim that the U.S. Congress, in the early ‘fifties, tried to pass a bill making the state of Alaska a giant prison camp (run by the “psyches” of course) for the mentally ill. Koppel asked him for proof and documentation of this claim, and Miscavige repield “I can get it for you.”

I wish Koppel had really pressed him on this instead of passing on to another question. At the end of the interview, Koppel might have said: “You’ve made an outrageous claim about the U.S. Congress setting up a prison camp for the mentally ill in Alaska, yet you’ve come on this show with no names and no documentation to back it up.” And of course, Miscavige’s response “I can get it (the documentation) for you” was worthless.

The interview was on balance a defeat for Miscavige, but Ted Koppel could have turned it into a rout, and I’m disappointed that he didn’t. Oh, well; as I’ve said previousy, DM’s karma will catch up with him one day. I pray that it’s soon.

DM made a complete fool of himself during that interview & he came away knowing it. The other old statement “open mouth, insert foot” worked quite well here. There is no way in Hell DM could ever make himself or “the organization” look good after he flubbed this interview. Imagine him having a good around with Anderson Cooper, who of course we know is gay, no doubt because of that DM would refuse to speak with him which would be a paltry excuse to get out of a hard hitting interview.

When one makes a fool of themselves on national TV, they are less likely to repeat the same mistake, that is, if they have any intelligence at all. Yes he has a huge ego, but his team of lawyers aren’t about to let a lose cannon shoot off to spout ridiculous denials when DM himself fully knows the truth. DM knows what he’s done, there is enough evidence to literally sink his battleship (Freewinds) & blow apart “the hole” to let everyone serving their sentence finally get freedom.

With these wonderfully brave group of folks who’ve had the guts to spill their stories to the public viewing audience, just how the Hell does he say anything that remotely would look like “the Church Challenges the Credibility of the Contributors”, & get away with it. Hubbard’s own writing back up the abuses, disconnection, treating the mentally ill etc. The policies & procedures clearly were shown in printed materials on the TV screen, & all one has to do is look them up in the books, papers, documents shown.

The stuff is hitting the fan slowly, & that same fan is spreading all the viciousness this man has placed upon others…those who had or have such great faith in COS.

One day the walls of his lies will bring him down…but I fully expect DM himself will be far away in a country without an extradition treaty, where he will live out his life in great comfort with plenty of $$$$ & his loyal staff around him, with no doubt the same loyal celebs around to kiss his “ring” (ass). . Everyone else, according to the realm of the Pope Of Scientology….well ladies & gents…he’d probably tell you to go……”F yourselves”.

David Miscavige doesn’t give press interviews. He doesn’t need to and in fact He does not have the time.

He is the world renowned, ecclesiastical leader of the world’s fastest growing religion. Statistics speak for themselves. Square footage of Scientology buildings are increasing exponentially. People are FLOODING into his Ideal Orgs.

MANY, MANY CLEARS are being made, in impressive volume.

MANY, MANY AUDITORS are being made, in even greater volume.

Now, everyone KNOWS this. ESPECIALLY the press!

And there you have the reason Mr. Miscavige can NEVER give an interview or be seen in any venue other than a Scientology Event.

The Mainstream Media HATE that Scientology is growing by leaps and bounds,

HATE that there’s no stopping it. Grrrr! This is is NOT to be born and MUST be stopped! So they think, the Anti Social, Suppressive Media.

They’re TERRIFIED of Scientology’s unprecedented expansion under the helm of Mr. Miscavige and will do and say ANYTHING to impede its amazing progress.

The media will even say anything to sully the name of Mr. Miscavige himself!

Yes! Yes, its true, Peter Norton!

The press are even willing to lie about David Miscavige, the Greatest Friend of Man’s Greatest Friend, L. Ron Hubbard!

The press will report that Mr. Miscavige BEATS people – can you imagine? This gentle, caring, hardworking man! Why, once he was seen tending to a tiny, injured bird…it was so obvious in his handling of this frail creature how deeply he cares for all living beings!

But, would the press ever report this? Noooooo!

No way. The press is out to get Him and bring Him down, and Scientology with it! They’ll NEVER say anything good about Him and any sincere remarks of His in an interview will be twisted beyond recognition.

And so, Mr. Miscavige eschews all publicity. He knows the truth. He knows how his religion is catching on like wild fire. So he ignores the naysayers and just keeps working, ceaselessly, tirelessly, in his own quiet, unassuming, yet tremendously strong and effective way.

WONDERFUL, ALL!!! I left a long time ago. No particular “event” so much as I realized I’d gotten all I wanted…which was quite a bit. No real complaints other than the approximately 200% per anum rise in prices. Suddenly, it was ALL about money. Only one bad auditor/session in all the years I was in. It was a *very* different time. Now, happy to see all the much deserved “pushback” from both ex and neverins. It truly has become intolerable. I doubt that in the US, in particular, they probably can’t attract more than a few newbies in a month. And even that is dribbling.

And no matter where in the world Herr Misscabbage gets his just rewards. All that money surely will paint a bullseye on him no matter how much he hides. And, fo course, he will NEVER be able to trust anyone, not even his “friends”.

Good question. There isn’t a news outlet on Earth that wouldn’t give him a platform. It might not be a sycophantic platform but He sure could speak up. Failing that there is always SUMP or GOLD or Mad Hatter Studios… hey there’s even Youtube. In fact it’s really never been easier to get a message out. Hiding isn’t that high on the Tone Scale. What’s up with that Dave?

I wrote before about the ramblings of LRH, and I had no idea what he was actually talking about. Perhaps I was wrong, and his ramblings about space people being blowing up, Jesus never was on the cross, (so why the cross on the top of their buildings), and other secrets that only those who were deep into the cult would know was either true, or coded messages that I had not paid to know about.

I believe that instead of a cross on the top of their buildings they should change it to a DC-8. Perhaps the crosses on top of the buildings represents a DC-8 flying in all the people to Earth. Is this another symbol that you understand at the higher level, or another “What the F— is this” moment.

I also watched with interest the Ted Koppel interview with DM in 1992. You could see the increasing frustration of DM, and believe me I think that if they were in a Scientology room with DM and his goons, Ted would have been in trouble. DM was really trying to take charge of the interview with the pointing finger, and body movements.

Interesting point was when Ted Koppel asked about the money aspect for someone who was not rich or famous and how they could pay the outrageous prices that Scientology charges for their classes. The basic answer of “They just take the classes,” was not very helpful. I also wish that DM would have had to “Put up, or shut up” (afterwards, he decided to shut up and not appear in anymore interviews) about the plan to put the patients in Alaska. Any more than the “fastest growing religion in the World,” and “We do good works all around the World.” Oh, sorry, they got locked away in a volt and someone moved a comma. Will have to write the proof all over again. I will get right back to you.

I must admit, I am hooked on watching the videos on the computer. Interview with LRH wife/girlfriend, was interesting when she said that “I told my girlfriend that if I tell you I am going to marry this man, tie me to a chair.” LOL. She thought him “interesting” but crazy as a loon, and I believe a bit dangerous.

Well, back to reading your great comments, and watching more interviews with Leah, Mike, Paul, and the rest of the great people who have spoken out on Scientology.

One other thing. They are very close to enough signatures to have the IRS look into the tax status of Scientology. I urge each and every one of you, your friends and family to sign also.

Me too, but the cog teeth sheared off and it all went in a freewheeling mess. Perhaps we’ll all entered into a dream, a bad, bad dream when we entered Scientology. Then we woke up, trying like hell to remember WTF happened?

When the patter starts to break down in the beginning – cracked me up. I think sometimes that’s what’s happening to the church; it’s schtick isn’t working any more and it’s whole patter is breaking down.

Important Quotes

If the org slumps during this transition period, don't engage in "fund raising"
or "selling postcards" or borrowing money. Just make more income with Scientology.
L Ron Hubbard From HCOPL URGENT ORG PROGRAMMING

"We own a tremendous amount of property. We own a tremendous amount of material and so forth, and it keeps growing.
But that’s not important. When buildings get important to us, for God sakes, some of you born revolutionists will you please blow up central headquarters".
L Ron Hubbard Lecture 31 Dec 1960

"Personal integrity is knowing what you know. What you know is what you know and to have the courage to know and say what you have observed".- LRH from Personal Integrity

"It is necessary to happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists of professing to believe what he does not believe." Thomas Paine

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” - Martin Luther King

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” - Martin Luther King

“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

“Communication is the universal solvent” - L Ron Hubbard

“When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.” Thomas Paine

"Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world would do this, it would change the earth." William Faulkner

"The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis." Dalai Lama